Purple Heart

"I can be changed by what happens to me.But I refuse to be reduced by it."

-Maya Angelou

1. 
   

My grandfather worked on the strawberry farm until he
was drafted. This photo was taken at the strawberry
fields in Madrone (near Morgan Hill.)

Both of my grandparents have showed me the power of forgiveness and a positive attitude.  Growing up it was always surprising to me that neither of them were bitter, angry or negative towards the United States government. It was even more shocking that my grandfather willingly went and served his country just a few years after being forced into Internment Camps.  I think in their situation it would be really easy to be cynical, angry and allow that energy to take over your life.  Through my family I have seen how your attitude can directly effect your outlook and the trajectory of your life.

My grandfather was only 24 years old when he was drafted to the Korean War.  He fought in Korea for seven months and received a Purple Heart.

Hearing stories about this time in my grandfather's life make me see the rebellious side to him.  Though he loyally served the United States Army- he definitely found times to bend the rules to his favor.  More than seeing his young rebellious side to me, the stories of my grandfather's service in the army shows me his bravery, resiliency and loyalty.

Coincidentally while my grandfather was serving in the Korean War his mother was visiting her family in Tokyo.

"When I went to Japan my mother's brother lived in Tokyo. That's when I went over there. I met them when I got shipped over. I was in Camp Drake and they didn't ship me out right away because I had to stay for a court marshall, so I was held over there for a while. So I asked for a pass. I wanted to go see my mother. They gave me a pass right away you know. They thought that my mother was living there (but she was really on vacation.)"

My grandfather never corrected them and still laughs when he thinks how he was able to bend the rules in his favor.  Later on he would get the chance to meet a friend from home who had become a translator for the U.S. Army.

"I knew the IKW team was behind us someplace.  So we were in the reserves. I asked my first sergeant first- I wonder if I could go see my friend. He's in IKW team. He said, yeah you could go see him. But don't tell him that's your friend.  Tell him it's your cousin. Cause they didn't want me to go just see my friend. So I had to lie."

My grandfather visiting his family in Japan

My grandpa took the chance to visit his friend but had to find his own way there and back.  While he was there he was able to see the different living conditions his friend had in comparison to his own.

"There was a truck going down south so you could get a ride there. But on the way back you gotta find your own way back. So I said okay. So I found my ride. I was seeing Fujiyo there. They living in a tent. Four guys in a tent.  I said you know how many guys sleeping in the same kind of tent?! Our whole platoon is sleeping in there! That's about 40 something people. You guys only got four people?!"

"I had lunch and I ate and now I better head back I might have to walk all the way back. So I started walking back.  And then artillery is there. This guy, "Hey boy san! Gimme your pistol!"

"Cause you have to always carry a weapon. I was carrying a BAR. I had my pistol walking. This guy kept saying, "Hey boy san! Gimme your pistol he said, you know. So guess what I did? I said give them the finger and gave them the F word. Then they shut up."

"A truck was going by and I hitched a ride. So I got a ride back. I was thinking I must have been pretty dumb to do that kind of stuff."

After visiting his friend my grandfather's platoon was sent out for battle.

"Everybody that was in Japan was in Korea now. So there was no army people in Japan. Our division, 24th, was the first to hit Korea when the war broke out. So, they were going to pull two division out. So the 24th and calvary got pulled out.  But our general didn't want us to go Hokkaido. (That's way up north.) So the first calvary went there. So now we were the second. So we got to go to Japan."

Nights were spent on patrol.  At times there were close calls.

"We go to patrol.  But I remember one night they made us go on patrol at night. And we stopped. Could you hear that? You could the enemy guy digging gravel in the creek area. You could hear him digging, digging. But we didn't do nothing.  Then another time I was carrying a B.A.R. They had to go there and try to sneak up on them. This guy was cooking his rice.  You see it was early in the morning. And Koka shot the B.A.R. and the guy kept running. They didn't hit em!"

As time went on things got more dangerous and my grandfather entered a more active war area in North Korea.

During this whole time my grandfather was carrying a rosary that his sister had given him before leaving.  My great-aunt Alice converted to Catholicism sometime during her time in internment camps.  She became very religious and continued to sent my grandfather letters saying that she was praying for him.  This wasn't necessary something that my grandfather believed but he carried around the rosary and taped it to the inside of his helmet.

"I still have it with me. It's got a string in it and you're supposed to tie it around your neck. I had that string tied around and taped it to the top of my helmet. I had it on top of my helmet.  She kept sending me all this stuff. This thing here before- we were going to the front lines so I taped it on top of my helmet."

This symbol of love and faith from my great-aunt may have saved my grandfather's life. Whether or not you believe in this symbol the fact is that my grandfather was just a sliver away from death.

"On the 9th we go up this hill. Start get up there. "

"13th of October 1951 we got up there and we started firing away. My assistant is this black guy. I got hit! I got hit! So I crawled over there and he was on the side. And I crawled over there to see what his wounds was.  Ahhh, it's only a scratch!"

"I didn't get wounded so I had to go back to my position where I was. Took my helmet off. JESUS CHRIST! I got scared after that. Got a damn 'ol hole in it! Jeez!  I said, holy smokes! Man that was close."

After getting to safety my grandfather realized that his friend Glover was hit by a piece of his helmet.

"When the bullet hit my helmet a piece of my helmet flew and got him.  Piece of metal hit him. Bullet is hot so he really felt it."

After getting shot my grandfather's platoon went back to safety. On the way back down he would experience the loss of a friend-one of his platoon mates.  Losing a friend in war makes you think about all the what ifs and each interaction you had with each person. Each memory becomes a part of that person's story and then becomes a part of your own.

"When I first got there I had a stopwatch. He (Glover) thought oh, that's nice watch. So when I came back I had this guys watch. I traded him."

On the way back down, "Somebody hits me on the back of my leg. Damn, it's Glover. He's dead. He was wearing my wrist watch. "

"This guy died. I seen that watch on him.  So I thought? Should I take it off him?  But I thought no... I don't want to touch no dead guy, you know? He was supposed to go home already. But he went on the front lines. Otherwise he would have already been home."

My grandfather received a purple heart for his near death experience and prepared to return home.  Coming home he describes being so skinny from barely eating while out on duty.

My grandfather's beauty school graduation photo

"I was so skinny! I weighed less than when I got over there. I got all those clothes they had . Because you know we were wearing long johns, wool pants, another pants on top of that, underneath we had wool long sleeve thing, a vest, fur lined like and field jacket and trench coat. Wearing all that clothes less than when I went over!"

Returning home after the war my grandfather decided to start a new career- as a hair dresser.

"Well, three of us went to LA to go to school. And this trade school we went to we didn't know what to take.  One of the guys said you should go to beauty college. This other guy he went to beauty college too. This other guys from Hawaii did welding."

My grandfather would come to own his own beauty salon- Richard's Beauty on 2094 Lincoln Ave. in San Jose, California.  The building is still there and is currently a different salon.

Richard's Beauty

As a hair dresser my grandfather had the opportunity to do one his favorite things- talking and telling stories.  He had a regular clientele of ladies that would come to get their hair done- many as much as once a week.

Coincidentally one of his best clients was his old grade school teacher.

"At first when I came back from LA this lady came in for a haircut and we start talking, talking. I said, I went to Orchard School. She said I was there too, she said.  Pretty soon I started naming the teachers first grade up. I got to her, she said that's me! That's how we became friends."

The relationship with my grandfather and his old teacher was so strong that she ended up leaving him things after her death.  Many of the stone pieces in his garden are gifts from her.




My grandparent's story is filled with turmoil, challenges and grief but their disposition remains positive and strong.  I have grown up hearing many of these stories and it has been a blessing to be have the time to get them written down.  To give their stories thought and think about how it has effected my family as a whole has been very important to me and I feel that their past has greatly affected my present- especially in terms of my outlook of the world.  Overcoming obstacles and remaining positive despite discrimination and hardship has taught me how to live with grace, dignity and positivity.

I hope you have enjoyed my family story as much as I have.  I hope to continue forward with this project with more stories, photos and interviews.

"There are only two days in a year that nothing can be done.  One is called yesterday. The other is called tomorrow.  So today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live."

-Dalai Lama

Loss

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."         

-Christopher Reeve

My mother's family.  My grandfather is on the bottom left.
My great-grandmothers are in the middle.

My grandfather's family story is filled with many stories of loss.  The first beginning before he was born.  My great grandmother lost her first son, Susumo, when he was only a year old.  She would later have four more children and decided to name another son the same name- Susumo.

My grandfather's first experience with loss was the death of his father.  At only 8 years-old my grandfather's father died.  Most of his memories are based off of stories that were told to him by his older siblings.  When talking about his father he doesn't remember much but still remembers the day he died very clearly.

"I was like 8 years old. January 9th, 1937."

"I just remember they came after us. We were at Japanese School. After grammar school you finish that and go to Japanese school.  So that's where we were at. And Komatsu Mack (his neighbor) came after us."

"The morning it was so cold. The puddle was ice. Real thick. But I remember we were riding on the pick up, the ice was still like we left if that morning. That's all I really remember.  I don't remember he was sick, in bed or nothing, I just know that he just died. You know I was only eight years old."

Baby Susumo's Funeral

My great grandfather Tomekichi Kihara's funeral. My grandfather is the young boy sitting in front of the coffin.  He remembers that you got to ask a friend from school to come and sit with you.

After about a year "My father's cousin told us we could raise strawberries over there. So we moved to San Jose."

At his new school my grandfather would experience his second loss- his given name.

"We went to school they wanted to give us English names.  They made us go to the board and write a name. Earlier, we used to talk about it. That's how Dexter and Alice got their name. I guess we talked about it. I think my oldest brother must have picked it."

From that moment forward my grandfather would be known as Richard (or Richie by his family) instead of Takao.

Class photo. Likely from Kindergarden or 1st grade.  My grandpa is on the top left.

His family continued to share crop strawberries in the San Jose area.  Back then families were given a certain amount of property to share crop but not all of their acreage would be in the same area. To avoid disputes about which land was better the land owners would split up the land so that you could have many patches scattered across acres of land.

"They had a great big 'ol field. 50 something acres. And maybe a couple acres. They didn't give you one little patch. Cause somebody might get the best part. They don't give you one spot. We had five pieces in different areas."

My great uncle Makoto

After finding success in the strawberry fields my grandfather's family dream would come to a halt with the start of the war.

"You know what happened? The year evacuation, 1942.... In 1941 Nakagawa family said why don't you guys start farming on your own? Not share cropping. So we borrowed- we didn't have that much money. We had to borrow money so we could start farming. So we borrowed money and the war broke out. So we only had crop for like half a year."

After borrowing money and starting their own business the war broke out and my grandfather and his family were forced into internment camps.

"I didn't know where we were going. We're going someplace. From San Jose the first camp we went to was Pamona Assembly Center."

From there they were moved again but were able to stay closer west because of his oldest brother's medical condition.

"My brother had TB (tuberculosis) so the rest of the people were going to Heart Mountain. It's cold up there... it's in Wyoming.  So we're not going there. We went to Santa Anita Center.  When we went to camp he came with us."

From Santa Anita by grandfather's family would eventually end up in Gila River, Arizona.

My grandfather's experience at camp was very similar to my grandmother's. He remembers the disorganization at school.

"At first we didn't even have tables or chairs so we had to sit on the ground!  We didn't have nothings! We just sat along the wall on the floor. Then they made homemade desks."

School was, "whatever they could get. There was a lot of Nisei teachers. They don't have credential. Because they sort of knew. They teach English or History. They taught art and stuff."

My grandfather also participated in sports teams that were organized by people within camp.

"They have football, baseball or basketball. Groups of people made a team up. I played all three sports."

Camp football team. My grandpa is on the top right.

While in camp my grandfather would experience another loss.  At only 24-years-old my grandfather's oldest brother, Makoto, would lose his three year battle to TB.

At this point it's really hard to imagine what my great grandmother was going through. Having lost two children, a husband, being forced into internment camps and owing money on land that she was torn away from.  It's pretty unbearable to think about.

After the war ended my grandfather's family went back to San Jose to work on the farm and pay off their debt.

"After we came back from camp we started share cropping strawberries. We paid it back after we came back from camp. We did good."

"We worked on the farm until I got drafted."

My grandfather's story continues next week with his time served in the Korean War.

Makoto's funeral in camp.  There seems to be many photos taken at funerals. I am unsure why...